Dozens of refugees are still stranded in precarious situations in PNG – and support from Australia is dwindling
- Written by The Conversation
After nearly a year without basic income and support services, 42 refugees and asylum seekers remaining in Papua New Guinea will soon begin receiving a meagre allowance of 900 kina (A$338) per week from the Australian government.
These men are former Manus Island detainees who were released in 2016 after the PNG Supreme Court ruled that Australia’s offshore detention facility was unconstitutional.
Most of the refugees and asylum seekers were then transferred to the capital, Port Moresby, where the Australian government began providing them with accommodation, meals, medical, health care and settlement services
However, in November 2023, that assistance was suddenly cut off without any explanation from the Australian government.
A year later, the men were informed this month that the support would be reinstated if they vacated their current homes, though the payments would be at a much lower level than before.
The demand that the men source their own accommodations is concerning, as many are too unwell to navigate a competitive and expensive rental market. Many are at risk of homelessness.
These low payments will also make medical care unaffordable, so the threat to health and life will continue to grow more serious.
Trying to restart lives in PNG
The refugees and asylum seekers were sent to PNG under the government’s Operation Sovereign Borders policy in 2012 and 2013.
The policy, which remains in place today, requires the mandatory offshore detention of people attempting to reach Australia by sea.
From the outset, the filthy conditions of detention on Manus Island were considered so harsh that only men were sent there. Families, women and children were held on Nauru.
Manus was also the site of deadly riots in 2014. In 2017, the Australian government paid A$70 million in compensation to refugees there – the largest out-of-court settlement for a human rights case.
On the closure of the detention centre a month later, most refugees and asylum seekers were moved to Port Moresby. A few men have since managed to rebuild their lives, set up businesses and begin families, but others have struggled.
Many have been unable to find work due to high rates of unemployment in the country, discriminatory hiring practices and their poor physical and mental health.
In addition, many have been victims of violent crime and resentment from the local community.
Deal behind closed doors
In a secret deal signed by the Morrison government and PNG in late 2021, Australia agreed to provide ongoing funding for services to the remaining refugees and asylum seekers in the country.
The agreement was, and remains, confidential. We have no way of knowing what support was promised, for how long, and to whom.
This support assisted the men with accommodation, security, health care, transport services, food and grocery vouchers, immigration advice and a small stipend of 700 kina (A$268) per week or 1,200 kina (A$460) for families).
When the funding was suddenly stopped a year ago, PNG’s chief migration officer said the remaining men would be resettled within weeks. The majority were to go to New Zealand.
Local businesses, citing breach of contract and shortfalls of tens of millions of dollars, withdrew all services.
Rapid health decline
In the year since, the 42 remaining refugees have faced evictions, financial precarity, threats to their safety, and a rapid and alarming decline in their mental and physical health.
Of the people the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) is currently in contact with, 20% are so unwell their lives are at imminent risk, 88% reported severe mental health conditions, and 100% reported physical health conditions.
Financial stress is a major cause of deteriorating mental health. One refugee who wished to remain anonymous reported:
the inflation is going higher day by day and it’s hard to manage everything, like clothes, food, electricity, other basic life necessity things […] life is like a jail […] what is our crime that we are still here?
In the last year, basic humanitarian aid has come through crowdfunding organised by Sister Jane Keogh of the Brigidine Sisters. However, this community-driven lifeline is not sustainable.
As Keogh explained to us:
Their physical conditions allied with their mental trauma means that they’re not able to cope with their lives […] many have surpassed the ability to ever lead a normal life due to their mental health.
Out of harm’s way
Since 2013, Australia has stuck with its policy that refugees subject to offshore processing would never be allowed in Australia. The United States and New Zealand have resettled most of the refugees and asylum seekers from PNG and Nauru, but these options are now uncertain for the remaining 42.
Resettlement in New Zealand requires a medical report, which is expensive and difficult for the refugees to acquire.
Without intervention by the Australian government, the consequences for the remaining refugees is dire.
As Qabil Hussain, who has been stuck in PNG for 12 years, told us:
We’ve been brought by Australia here [to PNG] and they just left us stranded here and our support was withdrawn […] I want Australia to take responsibility.
